Wingnuts Moto Racer for iPhone review

Somewhat akin to Electronic Art's classic Road Rash, Wingnuts Moto Racer puts you into a motorcycle race allowing you to cheat when other riders get close. We take a look.

by
Peter Cohen
, | 25 Dec 08

Should I buy Wingnuts Moto Racer for iPhone?

Expert's rating:

The roads in Moto Racer are wide and it’s usually possible to see ahead far enough to anticipate what you need to do, but we still found the game’s controls to be a bit twitchy – we had a tough time keeping the bike on the pavement much of the time.

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Wingnuts Moto Racer for iPhone
full review

Although the game carries the brand name of Freeverse’s popular homage to the classic arcade Time Pilot, Moto Racer has more in common with another classic game – Electronic Arts’ motorcycle racing game Road Rash. In Moto Racer, you hop on the back of a roaring motorcycle as you race across various landscapes, ranging from urban skylines to sandy beaches, forests to deserts.

You’re playing against the clock, using a ‘gas’ button on-screen to accelerate as you bank your bike to the left and right by tilting the iPhone. Occasionally you’ll need to dodge a slow car or punch out a rival biker gang member who will try to unseat you – when the other bikers get close, a Punch button appears on screen that lets you take a swing. (But you have to take your thumb off the gas to do this – an awkward and non-intuitive control.) You can, if you choose, dial down the difficulty, which reduces the number of bad guys and cars on the road.

You’ll unlock new courses as you win races; Moto Racer also saves where you are, so you can return to the same road from when you left (though you’ll have to restart the race). There is no pause feature, unfortunately.

Moto Racer certainly wins in the action department, and graphics are crisp and clean. It reminds us more than a bit of a Mac shareware favourite – Danlab’s Jammin’ Racer – and it’s little wonder, since the guy who coded Moto Racer is the same Daniel Labriet.